I got the Hornady's in the other day and had a few hours to play with them last night. I went ahead and started with 47gr of H414 and played with OAL instead. I found that the Hornady's have a significant ogive difference than the Sierra's, and when touching the lands the OAL was 2.835".

That was kind of interesting to me, because Hornady's factory ammo I have measures 2.760" on average. Which means, on average, the factory ammo jumps ~.075". It was shooting around an inch for me pretty consistently.

I started with a .020" jump and shot a decent group but it was 3/4" left POA. Then I decided to play with OAL. Loaded 3 more .005"(.015" off lands) longer and only shot two before I realized longer was not the ticket. Then I loaded .025" off the lands and got a good group, same size as the first, but almost an inch lower than the first. And on top of that I recorded a velocity increase of 50fps.

Next load was .030" off, opening up some. And next .035", which opened the group more. Very interesting experiment for sure.



So I got a question. I'm sure with more testing I'll see a pattern or something, but maybe someone already has seen a correlation.

I have the rifle zeroed 1" high at 100 yards right now with the factory ammo. It is the same bullet I am using, 139 grain flat bases. They were average 2575fps. *On a side note this was back when I was recording 10' from the muzzle instead of my 15' so I am not sure if those numbers would be any different now, ie. if muzzle blast was effecting the previous readings.

I also found a load with the Sierras that also group around 1" high. They have a little faster velocity though, around 2600fps average.

Now I find that with the 139gr Hornady's I am loading I am getting over 2600fps average, but they are grouping almost 1 1/2" low.

I realize that different loads come out of the barrel different ways. And the reason is different powder/bullet/OAL combinations, but has anyone seen this and found something out about it?

I did not have time to test out farther, I plan too on Friday. I'll just be curious how they do at 150-200 yards. The factory ammo was doing real good at 200 yards. The Sierra's were a little more open/scattered. I do have to say that I am not going to try and chase clover leafs though. I do not doubt that they are possible, but I am fine with 1" at 100yards if I can see that the load will consistently hit in that same area - as long as the longer range also proves to be decent of course.

It is a hunting rifle after all and I have zero intention of ever shooting competitions with it. I just want to feel confident in the shots I take on game and know that if I miss it was because of me and not the rifle/load.